[ISEA2000] Artist Statement: Michel Jaffrennou — Full of Feathers

Artist Statement

INSTALLATION

If art wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t play with it

Since 1980, Le Plein de Plumes (Full of Feathers) has been exhibited at the most diverse places and events in numerous countries as a counterpoint to the kaleidoscope of images that trouble our societies. Le Plein de Plumes is an act that humorously twists the function of the technology of a television set. The four sets and their electronic innards become transparent as a simple, light feather goes down through them one after the other, with just the law of gravity as a scenographer, and the persistence of white on black to give emphasis to the time that is passing. Le Plein de Plumes is shown in the form of a black monolith that is filled with feathers dropped by an enigmatic character. When the four sets are full of feathers, they are emptied. Then a new feather goes down through the screens and the feathers fill up the screens once again.

Sound : Leigh Landy, Production : Alain Bray, Vivavideo France

  • Michel Jaffrennou, France, trained at the Beaux-Arts school and works as a painter and sculptor, creating scenographies and performances at galleries and museums, in France and abroad. Since 1978, he has dedicated himself to video creation and has developed, with the help of emerging technologies:
    – a new form of electronic performance, in which actors, both real and electronic, act together on the same stage: Electronique Vidéo Circus at Centre Georges Pompidou, Vidéopérette at la Grande Halle la Villette.
    – installations: Le Plein de Plumes, Parade, le Phénoménal Bastringue Electronique, le Petit théâtre de Diguiden…
    – television programmes: Les Vidéoflashes (1st prize at the JVC TOKYO FESTIVAL), Jim Tracking, the CGI film Pierre et le Loup (7 d’Or in the best animated film on French television category in 1996), coproduced by Canal + and broadcast by many foreign channels.  [source: kentmaxwell.info/3905/michel-jaffrennou.html] fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Jaffrennou